> 4-5 years ago I was riding the Castle Rock 50. There is a section
> of trail on the second loop of the 50 where you go down an almost
> verticle hill that is very long that is shale rock. It sounds
> like you are walking across glass as the rocks break. I always get off
> and lead my horse down this section. Well as I was transcending down
> this section, I look back up the hill and there came Becky and Rio -
> finishing their last loop of the 70 mile ride. They were trotting down
> this hill like they were on the best footing around. They were
> perfectly balanced, and they whizzed by me with a smile on their face.
> I couldn't believe it. A few minutes latere, another horse and rider
> came up behind them trying to catch up. That horse got a very bad gash
> on its pastern in the process. The rider was pulled at the next stop.
This is a perfect demonstration that, in fact, horses do not "only have
so many downhill miles in them" any more than horses "only have so many
miles in them." Different horses, through training or conformation or
intelligent riding/management, have different amounts of downhill miles
in them.
They "only have so many downhill miles in them" to the extent that any
horse "only has so many years in it" And I would venture to guess that
the number of downhill miles varies a great deal more than does lifespan.
All horses get old, slow down, and die--true--so all horse will someday
not be able to go downhill any more. But many of them, if they are
trained, conditioned and ridden properly will be able to go downhill
until the day they die. (No puns intended here.)
Rio is still winning best condition at world championships, probably
after hundreds if not thousands of downhill miles.
kat
Orange County, Calif.